The Noble Nawab

Determined to Balkanise the Indian subcontinent as the parting price for independence, the British tacitly encouraged the Muslim League in t...

Determined to Balkanise the Indian subcontinent as the parting price for independence, the British tacitly encouraged the Muslim League in the Punjab to embark on a process of ethnic cleansing and this accelerated once the Hindus and Sikhs retaliated. As the violence became unmanageable, Partition was inevitable. Through this mayhem, there was only one oasis of peace in the Punjab, and that was the tiny Muslim-ruled principality of Malerkotla.

Partition may be a part of history and geography but most of all it’s about dividing the soul of a nation. This is specially true for Punjab which was perhaps the most composite province in British India where there was perfect cultural homogeneity between Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. Punjab was also the birthplace of the medieval Sufi religion, which was a fusion between Hinduism and Islam. The Punjabi ethos was freespirited, gregarious and full of the romance that a frontier people possessed. Partition, by its sheer brute force, divided a proud and fierce people by religion.

However, the residents of Malerkotla are perhaps the only relics of pre-Partition Punjab in the 21st century, where the pain of Partition is not kept alive despite the dismemberment of Pakistan in 1971 and the continuing cold war between it and India. What makes Malerkotla so special? Legend has it that for centuries, the town has been peaceful because of the special boon given to it by Guru Gobind Singh, the last of the Sikh Gurus. The Mughals, for long, had been attempting to stop the spread of Sikhism. But all attempts failed, specially after the formation of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699. Regardless of all this, Nawab Sher Mohammed Khan of Malerkotla, boldly opposed the execution of Guru Gobind Singh’s two sons, carried out in Sirhind. The Nawab fearlessly proclaimed that it was against the teachings of Islam to persecute the two children. If action had to be taken, it should only be against Guru Gobind Singh.

When Guru Gobind Singh was informed of the execution, he pulled out a small plant from the ground and predicted that the Mughal Empire would soon be uprooted. At the same time, he blessed Malerkotla and passed the edict that the state would be protected come what may, from communal tension. Since then, the Sikhs still honour the Nawab’s brave gesture and there has been no communal violence in Malerkotla. More than five decades after Partition, Malerkotla is the only living example of the defeat of the two-nation theory.